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Zinedine Zidane is under intense pressure, fighting to save his job at Real Madrid after president Florentino Perez ‘expressed doubts about the Frenchman’, according to reports.
Real Madrid have endured a difficult start to the season in both the league and the Champions League, sitting off the pace in both competitions, and Zidane is now having to deal with pressure from both the hierarchy and his players.
In a double whammy for the manager, SPORT report that club president Perez has expressed major concerns, while Marca say the players were left baffled by his team selection at Valencia last weekend.
While Perez is expected to give Zidane some more time to turn things around, the Real Madrid hierarchy are not shy to pull the trigger when things aren’t going their way, and the boss himself will be well aware that things need to change quickly.
In the club’s most recent defeat at Valencia, eyebrows were raised at Zidane’s starting line-up, without Ferland Mendy or Toni Kroos, and it has been reported that both the directors and the playing squad were confused by it.
Marcelo and Isco started at the Mestalla, and Marca have written that the players have a lack of confidence in Zidane’s decision-making.
The Frenchman is in his second spell in charge at the Bernabeu – he won the Champions League in three consecutive seasons during his first – but it has been far from plain sailing in recent months, despite his side winning LaLiga last season.
In the Champions League so far this campaign, Real have suffered a defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk and had to fight back with two last-gasp goals to nick a draw against Borussia Monchengladbach.
In LaLiga, there have been losses at home to newly-promoted Cadiz and away at struggling Valencia, leaving Zidane’s men fourth in the table.
One of Real’s best players in Fede Valverde fractured a bone in his leg in the most recent defeat, leaving him sidelined for at least a month, while Karim Benzema limped off too.
Add to that positive coronavirus tests for Eden Hazard and Casemiro and Zidane will surely be grateful for the international break to give his side a fortnight to continue its recovery.
There are two huge games to come after the international break, with in-form Villarreal up first, before a Champions League clash away at Inter Milan.
Vincent Paul
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